TALES OF POWER

I still get a kick out of discovering old obscure prog acts that played the kind of music I've always gravitated towards. On a search of this type, one frequently has to suffer through some bands that remained obscure for valid reasons; but occasionally one gets rewarded with a find like the Pittsburgh-area based band Arabesque. Their 2002 cd "Tales of Power" is actually a collection of songs written and recorded between 1973 and 1979, and compiled by the Texas-based Shroom Records. This is a very enjoyable prog cd in the same class as Cathedral, while drawing inspiration from early Genesis, Camel and Yes (with occasional nods to late-60's bands like Iron Butterfly or Vanilla Fudge). The vocals are warm and well done - for some reason, they remind me again of vocalists from early bands like Sugarloaf, The Ides of March, or The Grass Roots; even a little Jim Morrison in places. They mix in some non-traditional percussion (glockenspiel and temple blocks?!) and a large battery of analog keyboards. They sound like pretty polished musicians, which is sort of amazing because I read a recent message from Budd Kelly (keyboard player and vocals) that claims that none of these recordings were done in a studio - instead, they are mostly basement demos, recorded live in stereo, sometimes in the bass player's clothes closet!

I admit I'm also a sucker for nice cd artwork and liner notes that include a full history of the band as well as photos, lyrics, etc.; I was not disappointed here. With four mini-epics over 10 minutes long, and over 76 minutes of music overall, any traditional proghead will find plenty of original and exciting music to enjoy on this nice compilation. One of a kind band and cd. Recommended.

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